Remote Starter (Bulldog) Help

[turbojimmy]

Hi all,

If anyone is familiar with these things I could use a hand. It's a Bulldog RS85i remote starter installed in my '99 Buick Century. Bulldog's technical support people have been ignoring my e-mails. It's a shame because it's a great product but their customer service is going to kill them.

Anyhow, I installed it a few months ago and it works awesome. I changed my intake gaskets on the car which required unhooking the battery. Now it doesn't work.

At first I thought it was the anti-theft bypass module. This little module learns the resistance of the resistor baked into the key and applies it when you start the car remotely. I thought maybe since I unhooked the battery that I needed to reprogram it. I did, and it still doesn't work.

The device now completely ignores the remote that came with it. If I press my door lock button once, the car starts and runs for about 3 seconds before I hear the Bulldog module shut it off (relays click). This is strange for 2 reasons. First, you're supposed to press the lock button THREE times before it starts itself. Second, it's not the full start sequence - the DRLs don't come on and the dash doesn't turn on (gauges dead) so that tells me the ignition isn't getting turned on. It is running the fuel pump, though.

Weird.

I didn't touch any of this crap when I was working on the car so I'm not sure what to do now.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[turbojimmy]

Update:

I reset the Bulldog module by unplugging it for 1 minute and plugging it back in. Now it responds to the remote but I have to push the remote button TWICE to get it to start - should only be once. Strange. Ditto on the factory remote (again, should be 3 times).

Thanks,
Jim

 

[zam70]

No direct experience with the Bulldogs but you might need to reprogram the remote(s). Alot of times when power is disconnected, you have to reprogram them.
Another thing, unhook all off the Constant power feed wires only from the remote start (not the whole car) for a few minutes then reconnect. Make sure to leave the module grounded while doing this.
There's a possibility you might have spiked the module and fried it as well...

 

[turbojimmy]

Originally posted by zam70
No direct experience with the Bulldogs but you might need to reprogram the remote(s). Alot of times when power is disconnected, you have to reprogram them.
Another thing, unhook all off the Constant power feed wires only from the remote start (not the whole car) for a few minutes then reconnect. Make sure to leave the module grounded while doing this.
There's a possibility you might have spiked the module and fried it as well...

It turns out I had to go through the adding-a-new-remote sequence of events. I also had to remind it that I had the factory remote option enabled. Works great now - again. With this deep freeze in the northeast it's nice to get in a warm car.

Thanks for the replies.

Jim